


The Element of Saving a Life (Iron Man 2)

by stark1993



Series: Starstruck- an MCU Phase 1 story [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gen, Iron Man 2, Marvel Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27793096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stark1993/pseuds/stark1993
Summary: Delilah's junior year of high school has just ended, but a new challenge has just began. Can she stop two evil men from destroying everything she loves? Can she continue her work with cosmic energy? Can she save Tony Stark from death—or even himself?This story goes along with the movie Iron Man 2.All characters except my own are owned by Marvel. The Iron Man 2 script is also owned by Marvel.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Starstruck- an MCU Phase 1 story [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028883
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Fight, fight, fight!

Addy leaned backward on the bar as the crowd cheered and cheered, watching the fireworks shoot up. Everyone was waiting for the man of the hour to drop down from the sky, but I was just slowly drinking my mocktail. I really didn’t even want to go to the expo opening, but Addy found out that I, of course, could get us in, so she begged me until I gave in. We went shopping for dresses and even got our hair and makeup done for the event—all at the expense of Teen Vogue, a magazine that would feature us the next week. Addy wore a short blue off-the-shoulder dress that made her violent purple hair pop. I wore a patterned rose-colored dress that the Vogue stylist said gave my gray eyes some color. I tried telling him that gray was a color, but he just laughed.

I looked up and saw Iron Man flying down from the plane, dodging the fireworks, except one definitely did hit him, and I laughed a little. No one else could see him from that high up, though. I was the only one who got to enjoy that. He flew down and landed on the stage, and the crowd lost their shit. An American flag was on the screen, the lights and fireworks went off, and girls dressed in sexy Iron Man-inspired outfits started dancing. I groaned and Addy busted out laughing.

My dad stood there in his armor, looking around, arms wide. The robots came up from the stage floor to take the suit off and he grinned and bowed. As he waved and pointed to the crowd, the girls finished the dance and came up to him, posing. 

“Oh, it’s good to be back,” he said, giving the crowd a good show. “You miss me?”

Someone in the crowd screamed at him: “Blow something up!” People laughed. I downed my drink, wishing it really was alcoholic. 

“I missed you, too,” Dad said. “Blow something up? Already did that.” More people laughed. I gave Addy a look. 

“He is not that funny!” I cried, but she was laughing. “Addy!” 

“Oh, come on, Del, he’s great!” she cried. 

“I’m not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me.”

People cheered again.

And me! I thought. He may be the big superhero, the superstar, but I helped him. Who helped him build the suit? Who taught him how to fly? Who helped stop Obadiah? And who saved him from that avalanche in Russia back in February? Me! Our deal is that I don’t get seen and I can do whatever I want to help, and I can do my own stuff, too. Like researching cosmic energy. As long as I don’t interfere with SHIELD, as well. Somehow, in May, I got lucky. Eyewitnesses say they definitely saw someone else there, but whoever it was moved too fast and wasn’t caught on camera. Even SHIELD fell for it. 

“I’m not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never had a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in history!” Dad went on.

I gave Addy a look. “He is so cocky!” She laughed and shrugged, watching the show. Dad was now profiting off peace like he once profited off war. He was selling peace, but also sex and fame. It was sick to watch sometimes, but somehow, this experience drew us closer. He even wanted to have the Stark Expo in New York so he could find more reasons to come see me… as if his corporate offices weren’t in NYC this whole time, but I dropped that. 

“I’m not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea, because I haven’t come across anyone who’s man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day!” He was really letting it loose up there. I may have to keep my identity a secret—like a real superhero, I always remind him- but I was starting to think maybe it’s a good thing that he gets to show off like this. It’s helping Stark Industries, it gets Addy and I more magazine covers, and it’s honestly really fun when some little kid asks if you know Iron Man, and you get to say yes.

“I love you, Tony!” some lady yelled. I groaned loudly and Addy just laughed at me. 

“Please, please,” Dad said, holding up his hands and shaking his head. “It’s not about me. It’s not about you! It’s not even about us. It’s about legacy. It’s about what we choose to leave behind for future generations and that’s why, for the next year, and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations’ corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future! It’s not about us.” I smiled and nodded. I liked the sound of that, and that sounded a lot more than what we had discussed when talking about bringing the expo back. “Therefore, what I’m saying, if I’m saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo! And now from the great beyond to tell you what it’s all about, my father, Howard Stark.” He nodded and left the stage and a video of my grandfather played. I turned to Addy. 

“Wanna go check everything out?” 

“Hell yes! I wanna see some shit to talk about tomorrow to make Vicki mad.” We started walking to the pavilions. At this point, we were both aware of the photographers following us with their flashes and the reporters following us with recorders. 

“Dude,” I said, linking our arms as we walked, “How did Vicki get into Midtown, anyway?”

“Money,” Addy replied with a shrug.

We laughed.

“A father to us all!” I cried, slamming my locker shut. The senate hearing was a complete disaster, yet somehow a success, but I was just pissed at the Senator’s attitude, and I was fuming about Justin Hammer. “Who does he think he is? ‘A father to us all,’ what a bunch of—” 

“Hey Stark!” I turned around from Addy and rolled my eyes. Brad Mixton was approaching. I tilted my head and leaned against the lockers. Addy glared at him.

“What do you want, Mixton?” she barked.

“Just got done watching the senate hearing in AV class. On my brand-new iPad.”

“Congrats,” Addy snapped. “We watched it via hologram in robotics class.”

“Your dad…” he said, walking up to us with a few of his jock friends. “Is a total asshole.”

“If you’re referring to his senate hearing, I would suggest you—” 

“What? Don’t want me to tell the truth? Hammer and Stern try to enact some justice and your dad just goes crazy!” His eyes widened and he laughed. “Stark-raving mad, if you will.” 

“I think the asshole award goes to your precious senator when he said ‘fuck you’ to my dad—on public television! That’s the most inappropriate behavior I saw in the whole broadcast.”

“Oh, please. You would be mad if some crazy man who thinks he’s a superhero hijacked the hearing you were leading! The audacity of the Starks,” he said, shaking his head.

“You wanna see real crazy, Brad?” I snapped.

“And Hammer? He just picked up where your dad left off. Making weapons. Something actually useful in our world.” I rolled my eyes as kids started to pay attention to our back-and-forth.

“Your emphasis of weapons implies that you don’t believe my dad’s machine is a weapon, which completely invalidates your attitudes towards Stern and Hammer and their insane label of it as such!” I realized I was in his face and if I didn’t slow it down, it might get physical. I ignored that small part of my conscious. “And, uh, really? Hammer ‘left off’ where my dad was? My dad’s scribbles as a kid are more cohesive than Hammer’s eighteenth prototype! His finished designs don’t include a tenth of what our first prototypes would have!”

“You’re just jealous because now you’re profiting off so-called ‘peace,’ while Hammer is making real money—” 

“Profiting off of war! Deaths of women, children, civilians! What my dad ended for Stark Industries was a good thing, and people will look back on history and see us on the right side. Real money doesn’t matter when it’s blood money.”

“It’s not like it’s Americans dying,” Brad said with a shrug.

My vision flashed red with anger and I jumped at him. He screamed as I got one good punch in before someone yanked me away from him. 

“Alright, alright!” the principal, Mr. Horne, said as he pulled us away from each other. “All of you, get to class!”

As people began moving again, going to classes, I stared into Brad’s evil blue eyes. 

“And Mr. Mixton? Miss Stark?”

I looked up at the huge man. 

“My office. Now.” I groaned and shoved my hands into my pockets, hiding the sparks coming off of them.


	2. Meet Natalie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! If you're reading this, I hope you enjoyed the first work in this series, Like Father, Like Daughter. I'm very excited for this next part of Delilah's story!

I got off the plane and grinned, letting out a huge breath. 

“It’s good to be back!” I cried, running down the steps. 

“Uh, hey!” Happy called after me, holding my bags. I turned around and gave him a look. 

“Sorry, Happy,” I said with a shrug as I snapped my fingers and the bags disappeared from his arms and landed in the trunk of the car. “There you go. I could just put you in the car, too—” 

“No!” he screamed, walking down the steps to meet me at the car. “No, no. You’re exhausting, Delilah.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Besides, I thought you hated Malibu.” He opened my door and I swung in. 

I looked up at him, squinting in the painful California sun. “I do. But I’m about to be on my way to Monaco, so… I love Malibu. Besides, once school’s over, Dad and I have so much to work on.”

“So, you’ll spend the entire summer in the workshop,” he teased, shutting the door and walking around to the driver’s side. 

I leaned forward and nodded. “Exactly. Malibu sucks, but getting my hands on some sweet titanium is what it’s all about.” I paused. “And going to Monaco. That’ll be badass.” 

The next day, we rolled up to the hotel to, not surprisingly but annoyingly enough, a huge crowd of fans and probably a lot of people just dying to get a look at the weird and rich Americans. We got out of the car, Dad gave his signature peace sign, and we made our way inside. As we were walking up the stairs, my phone beeped. I pulled it out and read the update Jarvis had just sent me on my project. I paused. Pepper called after me, but I motioned for them to go on inside.   
I frowned as I watched a map move into New Mexico, where a significant amount of cosmic energy was building up. This was not the first time we got a hit over some dinky little town there—Puente Antiguo—and I felt like it wouldn’t be the last. But I was on vacation. “Put a pin in it, dude,” I muttered as I put my phone up and ran up to the others. 

“Hey,” Dad said to Pepper, “Whatever happens in the next twenty minutes, just go with it.”

“Go with it?” she asked as we walked into the lounge. “Go with what?” A young and very pretty redhead walked up to us. She had big doe eyes and perfect lips, which made me want to barf. 

“Mr. Stark?” she said.

“Hello!” he responded.

“How was your flight?” she asked. 

“It was excellent. Boy, is it nice to see you…” He snatched a drink from a man with a tray.

Pepper took one as well.

I grinned and also accepted one, only to have Happy take it out of my hands.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

“Doing as the Romans do?” I suggested.

“We are not in Rome, so,” he set the drink back on the tray, “You won’t be.” I sighed and shrugged. It was worth a try! Only one more year until I could legally drink in Europe. 

“We have one photographer from the ACM if you don’t mind,” the redhead said, taking Dad and Pepper’s drinks and backing away.

Happy and I moved out of the way and the two of them posed, all while muttering to each other.

“When did this happen?” Pepper asked.

“What? You made me do it,” he replied.

“I made you do what?”

“Oh!” the redhead said as I was staring at her deep red hair, not the same ginger color as Pepper’s. She grabbed me and set me to Dad’s left. “There you go.”

“You quit,” Dad said. “Smile, look right there.” He put his arm around my shoulders, and I sighed, giving a half-assed smile. They bickered as we took a few pictures, then the redhead pulled Dad aside. Pepper grabbed her drink, and we followed Dad and the redhead.

“I have to ask,” I muttered to Pepper. “Who is that chick?”

She made that noise again. “His new assistant, Natalie Rushman.”

“Oh,” I said, raising my eyebrows. She had an air about her. Like there was more to her than meets the eye. I ignored it and grinned at Pepper. “Hey, congrats on CEO, though!”

“Thank you,” she said. “And congratulations on almost being done with junior year. Are you going to be valedictorian?”

“Come on, Pep,” I moaned. “I mean, yeah, but come on.”

“Mr. Musk?” Pepper said, turning and walking to the next table over.

Oh, my God, it’s Elon Musk! Addy is going to kill me for this…

“Hi, Pepper,” he said, standing up and shaking her hand. “Congratulations on the promotion.”

“Thank you very much!”

Dad butted his way in. “Elon! How’s it going?” He grasped Elon Musk’s hand. “Those Merlin engines are fantastic!”

I sighed as all three walked away and Elon left them, then the two went to the bar. I watched in horror as Justin Hammer and a vaguely familiar woman approached them. At first I thought, hey, I’ve seen her on TV or something, and then I realized… She’s the reporter that practically attacked Dad at the press conference he dramatically ended with: “I am Iron Man.” Dad looked like he was in pain for their entire conversation, and so did Pepper, so I did what naturally anyone in my position would do. I casually changed my posture, flicked my wrist in the process, and watched as Hammer’s wrist flicked toward him, pouring his drink all down his shirt. I tried not to laugh as photographers got a good shot of it.

Pepper and Dad immediately shot their eyes to me. I pretended to not understand the situation, then suddenly got it, and mouthed, “Wow. Awkward.” Dad shook his head and Pepper gave me a look, then they walked away. After a minute, Pepper came back to the table and sat down. 

“Why would you do that?” she whispered as she opened up a menu.

“What?” I asked, also perusing the menu. 

“Delilah, don’t play innocent. Why would you do that to Justin?” 

“Because he sucks,” I said, closing my menu and looking up at her. 

She sighed and looked at me, too. 

“Seriously, he does, and embarrassing him a little bit is nothing compared to what I could really do, anyway, I mean, come on—” 

She shushed me and looked around, panicked. “You can’t act like that! Or talk like that!”

“So, when Dad does it, it’s okay, but when I do it…” I sighed and looked away, my eyes catching the TV and a very familiar man in race car driving gear. My jaw dropped.

“What?” Pepper asked, looking up. “Oh, my God…” She started breathing fast. “Natalie! Natalie!”

“Yes, Miss Potts?” Natalie replied, coming over. 

“Did you know about this?”

“Uh, this is the first that I have known of it.”

Pepper huffed and looked back at the screen. “This…This cannot happen!”

“Absolutely, I understand. How can I help you?”

“Where’s Happy?” I asked Natalie, watching Pepper go into panic mode.

“He’s outside.”

“Yes, Happy—okay, get him. I need Happy,” Pepper said, nodding. 

“Right away!” Natalie dashed out of the hotel.

“I gotta go see this!” I cried, getting up, but Pepper grabbed my arm and threw me back into the seat with strength I didn’t know she had. I stared at her. 

“You are not leaving my sight,” she said, eyes glued to the TV.

“Aw, come on…” I looked up at the TV as a man walked out onto the track. I furrowed my eyebrows and a weird feeling set in the pit of my stomach. “Uh, Pepper?” The man opened his shirt and I stared at a mock arc reactor built into his chest. He held strange things in his hands and they almost looked like a jump rope cut in half, but then he snapped them, and I saw what they were. Electric whips.

“Dad!”

Happy walked in the door and held up the Iron Man suit suitcase. 

“Come on,” Pepper said. We ran outside to the car.


	3. Meet Ivan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delilah wants to help, but she feels powerless after months of suppressing the cosmic energy inside her.

I practically flew into the car. We slammed the doors shut and Pepper screamed at Happy: “Go, go!” 

He floored it and I hit the back of the seat.

“Hang on!” Happy called as he busted through a barricade. I screamed as we almost hit a race car, but Happy swerved just in time. I pulled my mask out and yanked it halfway on, leaving my hair out.

“I need to get out!” I cried.

“NO!” Pepper screamed, throwing her arm across me as we turned way too fast.

“Absolutely not!” Happy added, locking the doors. I groaned in frustration. 

“Dad probably needs help!” I unlocked my door.

“And that’s what we’re trying to do!” Happy replied, locking it.

“Happy, I can help him!” I glared at him. “Give me the suit, I can—” 

“Everyone would see you!”

“Gimme the case!” I motioned wildly to the suitcase in Happy’s lap. Pepper shook her head. “Jarvis, I need eyes on Dad!”

“Right away,” he responded, throwing up footage of Dad’s car cut almost in half. It rolled, hit another sliced car, and rolled and rolled again. Dad, upside down, pulled off his helmet. He’s okay. 

“Give. Me. The. Case!” I gasped.

“No, give me the case!” Pepper said, reaching for it. 

“Here, take it!” Happy shoved it back.

“Pepper, trust me! I won’t do anything to jeopardize my identity!” 

“Okay, fine!” she cried after a moment. She let me take the case.

“Where’s the key?” I asked.

“It’s in my pocket!” Happy replied. I rolled my eyes. 

“Ugh, Happy, come on, you couldn’t have taken that out before you sat down?”

“You can’t just reach in there with your mind?” he demanded. I did just that, snaking an energy stream into his pocket and pulling out the key. 

“CAR!” Pepper shouted. Happy dodged it and I caught the key mid-air.

We turned the corner.

“Oh, my God!” Pepper gasped.

I stared at the man in the jumpsuit with the whips, the fire, and Dad, bloody. 

“HIT HIM!” I screamed. Happy yanked the wheel to the left and we ran straight into the man who attacked Dad, pinning him against the barricade. The man slumped over the car. Dad had to jump up and grab the fence to avoid us. 

“Nice,” I breathed out. 

“Are you okay?” Happy screamed out the window as Dad jumped down and walked to us. I pushed the mask back to rest on my head like a headband.

“Yeah,” Dad replied. Pepper was crying. I leaned forward to see Dad.

“Were you headed for me or him?” he snapped at Happy.

“I was trying to scare him!” Happy cried.

“’Cause I can’t tell!”

“It was my idea!” I told Dad, grinning.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?” Pepper shrieked at Dad, still crying and trying to breathe. I sat back in the middle seat, breathing hard. 

“Better security!” Dad said.

“GET IN THE CAR RIGHT NOW!”

“I was attacked! We need better security!”

“Get in the car!” Happy yelled, looking back at Dad. I sighed, getting over the adrenaline rush, and looked out the window at the guy Happy hit.

“You’re CEO,” Dad kept going on as he walked around to get in the other side of the car. “Better security measures. God, it’s embarrassing.” I sat up, watching the guy move. 

“Uh, Happy—” 

“First vacation in two years,” Dad muttered as he opened the door.

“DAD!” I screamed as the guy flicked a whip and sliced the car door in half. I shoved my fist forward, punching a massive energy wave into him. He flew back and stared into the car with wide eyes. Pepper and Happy started screaming again.

“Whoa!” Happy hit it in reverse and then slammed into the guy again. 

“AH!” I cried. I leaned forward to grab the case that fell to the floorboards, but Happy threw it in reverse again and I slammed back.

“HAPPY!” I screamed as he flew into the guy again.

“I got him!” 

“We can tell!” I grabbed the case and looked out the now half-a-door at Dad.

“Hit him again, hit him again!” Dad yelled. He tried to open the door. “Football!” 

“What?” I cried as Happy kept going.

“Holy shit, HAPPY HOGAN, STOP!” I screamed.

“Give him the case!” Happy yelled.

“STOP BANGING THE CAR!” Pepper screamed back. 

I finally threw the case out of the car right as the whips hit the top of the car and huge pieces flew down. I screamed and Pepper started crying again. I created a forcefield around us and Happy, but they both started screaming at me again. 

“PUT THAT AWAY!”

I rolled my eyes and made it invisible.

“Are you happy?” I moaned. The left side doors got sliced off.

“GIVE ME THE CASE, PLEASE! COME ON!” 

“I ALREADY THREW IT, DIPSHIT!” 

“WE ARE HAVING A CONVERSATION LATER!”

“CAN YOU DEAL WITH THIS SITUATION FIRST?” I cried as he found the case and let the armor surround him. He gave me a look right as the helmet went on and I gritted my teeth at him. He kicked the car away and started to shoot the man with the whips.

“Oh, my God, seriously, Delilah, stop!” Pepper groaned. I whirled around to give her a look.

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“Oh, my God, Happy!” she whined. I groaned and watched as the electric whips started doing damage to the Iron Man suit. The man got a hold of Dad with both and threw him on top of the car.

“Del!” Dad cried. “Keep them safe!” I nodded, looking for a way out as he jumped off and shot the other guy again, but we were trapped in the car. There was nothing I could do. Well, I could do a whole lot, but then, well… Would there be a Senate hearing to discuss me as a weapon? I gulped and Pepper started crying once again as the whips were around Dad’s neck. I outstretched my hand to help Dad somehow, but the forcefield was taking up all my energy. I was panting from the effort. 

“This is what happens when I can’t… I can’t… I can’t do shit for months! I can’t even hold a fucking a—a—forcefield without getting… ugh… lightheaded!” Dad knocked the guy on the ground and bent down to rip the arc reactor out. Pepper put her arm on me, and I let the forcefield dissipate. I leaned back and she caught me. 

“Oh, my God, Delilah, are you okay?”

“Delilah!” Happy turned around and looked at me. I nodded, panting. I looked up to see the guy spit at Dad.

“You…” he said in a heavy Russian accent. “You lose!”

“Tony! Delilah…” Pepper called.

“You lose, Stark,” the Russian said as he was dragged away by police. He was laughing the entire time. it was like he was crazy or something. Dad ran over and grabbed me, opening the mask. His eyes were panicked.

“What- what’s wrong?”

“That was the first time she’s used her powers in months—at least so much, I guess—I think she’s just exhausted,” Pepper told him. I nodded, my chest heaving, my vision blurring. He sighed and nodded, laying me back against Pepper. The police came over and said something to Dad in French. He responded in French as well, and they stepped aside. I frowned and looked up at Pepper. 

“He… speaks French?” I whispered. Pepper laughed and nodded. “I think I can, too.” She did a double take.

“What?” Happy muttered.

I must have passed out.


	4. Dying to Talk to You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, Tony's being an asshole.

Pepper and I sat on the plane, watching the TV. Of course, who was on the live show? Senator Stern. I watched in disgust. He was a vile person, obviously not working for the American people, but for himself. I tried to not get into politics, but when I did, I got so worked up that I got an itch to fly across the world and grab a picket sign. Or just punch someone in the face. And Stern had a good face for punching… not much else.

“It’s just unbelievable,” he said, looking right into the camera. “It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he’s doing—” 

“I ought to—” I stood up, but Pepper slammed me down. I huffed and crossed my arms.

“He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy,” Stern continued.

“Did he pay attention at all to his own senate hearing?” I cried. Pepper sighed. And Stern went on. 

“I was at a hearing where—where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can’t exist anywhere else, don’t exist anywhere, won’t exist anywhere else at least for five to ten years, and here we are in Monaco realizing, ‘Uh-oh. These suits exist now.’”

“Mute,” Dad said from behind us in the doorway. He walked in, sat across from Pepper. “He should be giving me a medal. That’s the truth.”

“He should at least shut his pie hole,” I muttered. Dad set down a tray and some silverware.

“What is that?” Pepper aske as she leaned forward.

“This is your in-flight meal,” Dad replied, lifting the lid to reveal an omelet.

“Did you just make that?”

“Yeah. Where do you think I’ve been for three hours?” Pepper gave him that look. It was curious, but also seductive, and enough to make me put headphones in and close my eyes. It wasn’t long until I fell asleep and started dreaming. 

I was floating in space, near a few cosmic clouds. Everything was echoing, even my own breathing. I turned around and gasped. Mom was floating in the middle of the cosmos as well, smiling at me. I grinned.

“Mom,” I whispered. She tilted her chin down and took a deep breath. My stomach felt tight all of a sudden and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I stared at her. “What are you trying to tell me? Mom!” I jolted up in my chair, the tight feeling in my core still there. I was breathing hard, looking around.

“Delilah?” Pepper said.

“Del!” Dad leaned over. I looked over at them, panting. 

“There’s something wrong.” This was something that happened more and more often. I got that bad feeling that was usually followed with something bad happening. Obadiah, the hearing, even a bad grade on a test. And Mom… What was she trying to tell me?

“What? Like—like with the plane?” Pepper asked. 

“No,” Dad muttered, giving me a hard look. “What?”

“I don’t know,” I gasped, “I think… I don’t know… it’s racetrack bad. But—” Dad sighed. 

“Something’s coming?”

“What?” Pepper asked.

We both looked at her.

I walked inside the Malibu house and huffed, dropped my backpack. Dad walked by me. 

“You, workshop, now.”

“Okay,” I muttered, picking up my backpack and running after him.

“I have some stuff I need to upload to Jarvis’s mainframe,” I said as we walked down the stairs. 

“Yeah, well, it can wait, we’re researching.”

I furrowed my eyebrows and followed him into the large room. It had been about a year since I had been here, and there were few things different. A couple new posters hung, but Dummy was still banging his head against a huge computer. I laughed at it, tossed my bag down onto a chair, and looked around. “Dad—” He had hopped into an old car, behind the wheel. I sighed and flew over, then jumped into the passenger seat. 

“Jarvis, find that guy,” Dad said.

We watched as Jarvis searched through news feeds and CCTV, records, visas, the whole nine yards. Finally, he announced: “Query complete, sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963, however he was accused of espionage and deported in 1967.” I frowned and read the images and documents popping up. Vanko worked with Howard Stark. My grandfather. They built and invented things together.

“His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons-grade plutonium to Pakistan and served fifteen years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist.” Jarvis brought up a picture of the man from the track. Was Ivan trying to finish what his father started? I wondered. I pointed to a picture of the LA Times. 

“Look,” I said quietly, “he died.”

Dad read the headline out loud: “Ivan Vanko Dies in Prison Escape Attempt.” 

“I dunno,” I said, shaking my head. “That doesn’t feel right. Something feels—” I glanced over at him and froze. “Dad! What—what the hell is that?” I stared at a dark pattern that seemed to be creeping up from under his collar to the top of his neck. It looked horrible—it looked like it came from his chest.

“What?” he asked. He swatted me away. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” I cried, turning all the way to face him. “Dad, you said the palladium was going to be fine, you said you did everything to ensure organic—” 

“And I did,” he said, tugging at his t shirt. “This is just a side effect.” I rolled my eyes. 

“Dying is not a side effect.”

“I’m not dying,” he argued.

I stared at him, my heart pounding. I shook my head. He was the most ridiculous, stubborn man I had ever known, and it was absolutely painful having to deal with him sometimes. Suddenly, I was angry at him. I was so mad about how he kept this from me when he knew damn well I could have helped. 

“Fine,” I muttered, turning away. “You’re not dying. You’re alive and healthy and well and you just kicked Ivan’s ass on TV, good job, dude, you are really the cream of the crop.”

“What?” he groaned. 

I glared at him. I felt a lump in my throat rising. “If you had told me about this, I could have…”

“Even I can’t think of anything.”

“I could do something—something with…” I made sparks shoot from my fingers. “I can figure out a way to connect the energy to—” 

“No,” he muttered, looking up at the big screens. 

“No? Just like that? You want to keep dying?”

“Yes.”

I rolled my eyes and closed my eyes. I sighed. I could do something, and I would do it, I just had no idea what that would be. Yet. The door opened and we both looked up as Rhodey walked in. 

“Tony! You gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now.”

Dad didn’t respond; he just looked down.

“Listen,” Rhodey said, walking in. “I’ve been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door, and taking these.” He pointed to the four Iron Man suits on display on the wall. He sighed. “Hey, Del.”

“Hey,” I replied. Dad wasn’t looking at Rhodey. 

“They’re gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They’re sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for twenty years, well guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It’s not theoretical anymore.” I glanced at Dad, who wasn’t looking too good all of a sudden. He was sweaty. Rhodey put his hand on Dad’s shoulder. “Are you listening to me?” Dad looked up at him.

“Are you okay?”

“Mm-hmm. Let’s go,” Dad said, getting out of the car. I jumped out, and when I turned around to look at them, Dad was collapsing on the side of the car. “Shit!” I gasped. I ran to him and Rhodey, who was trying to help him up.

“You alright?” Rhodey asked. I put Dad’s arm around my shoulder and took his weight off Rhodey.

“Yeah, I should get to my desk,” Dad replied in a weak voice. I nodded and walked him over. He was leaning heavy on me, almost unable to walk at all. 

Rhodey followed us, watching me as I pulled Dad’s weight all on my own.

“See that cigar box?” Dad asked. I sat him down.

“Yeah!” Rhodey grabbed it. 

“It’s palladium.” Dad unplugged the arc reactor and pulled out a nasty eroded cartridge. I grabbed it and held up the hot piece of metal.

“Is that supposed to be smoking?” Rhodey asked.

“If you must know, it’s neutron damage,” Dad replied. I set it down and looked at him. 

“It’s from the reactor wall…”

“You had this in your body?” Rhodey grabbed it. Dad turned away, breathing heavy. I looked at Rhodey and he shook his head. “And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?”

“Road rash,” Dad replied. Rhodey nodded and huffed, even though he didn’t believe it at all. 

‘Thank you,” Dad muttered. He reinstalled the arc reactor and gasped, breathing easier. He looked back at Rhodey and me. “What are you looking at?”

“I’m looking at you,” Rhodey said. “You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it’s unnecessary. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“Rhodey, I was just telling him that.” I crossed my arms. “Asshole’s not gonna listen to a word.”

“Remember that conversation we were gonna have? Yeah, quit saying shit like that.” 

“Sure, I’ll stop when you stop,” I replied. Dad just gave me a warning look. 

“You know, Rhodey, I wish I could believe that. I do. But you gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I’m doing.” I shook my head. 

“You aren’t doing it alone. Why can’t you let me help you—” 

“I don’t need your help!” Dad stood up. Rhodey put a hand on my arm. 

“Tony, I can’t believe I’m getting into this with you, but your daughter—your only child—wants to help you get better and you’re telling her no?” Rhodey cried.

“Rhodey,” I muttered. Dad stood up. 

“Just get out. I have some stuff to work on.”


	5. Happy Birthday, Tony!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fight in the mansion, Tony and Delilah get a visit from some friends.

It was finally the last day of junior year. I was so exhausted from this week, flying from New York to Malibu to Monaco, back to Malibu, and then to New York one last time. As I walked into Midtown, all I kept telling myself was that I just had to get through this one day. This one day. And I would be golden for a whole summer. Not even ten steps into the door, though, Wetherbee stopped me with a motion. I sighed and walked over to him as he stood in the hall, arms crossed. 

“Hi, Principal Wetherbee,” I said. 

“Delilah. How are you?”

“Great, sir, how are you?”

“Fine. I just wanted to let you know that you are, as of now, in the lead to be valedictorian of your class.” He stared down at me, expecting some kind of reaction. It occurred to me just then that maybe I didn’t care as much as I thought I did. As he looked down at me, he seemed a little confused as to why I wasn’t giving him a reaction. So, I just slowly gave him a thumbs up. He shook his head. “Anyway. I cannot have my valedictorian getting into fights, do you understand?” 

“Oh,” I scoffed. “Yeah, for sure.”

“No. More. Fights,” he demanded, pointing a finger at me. “You deserve to be valedictorian. I don’t want to have to take that away from you.”

“Sure,” I replied. “Am I good?” He just sighed and nodded. I walked off and found Addy, my saving grace. 

I walked through the door to the mansion, relieved that I was finally here for good. For three months, at least, but that was somewhat a long time. Pepper turned the corner and gasped.

“Jesus! You scared me!” she cried. “Hey—are you staying for your dad’s party tonight?” I gave her an incredulous look. She sighed. 

“Well, I didn’t think so. Go tell him happy birthday, and then scram. You probably shouldn’t see this anyway…” She sighed and walked off for the kitchen. I set my bags down and ran down to the lab. 

“Hey,” I said, walking in. Dad was watching more news broadcasts. I groaned. “Dude, come on.” He just looked up at me and smiled.

“Happy birthday,” I told him, throwing him something tiny. He got off the sofa and caught it. He looked down at it. 

“Thanks!” he cried, walking to his computers. “Just what I needed… Hey, as much as I would love for you to stay for my party—” I threw my hands up.

“Don’t worry!” I replied. “I don’t need to see that.” He nodded and I headed back up the stairs. I took my bags up to my room and got everything situated, then headed back down the stairs. Pepper was helping the caterers load in. I walked past her. 

“Don’t go off too far tonight,” Pepper warned as I walked out the door.

“Yeah. Have fun babysitting,” I replied, putting my mask on. Practically running out the door, I jumped into the air and flew off toward the ocean. It had been a while since I was able to do something like this. And that party would be absolutely unbearable, I just knew it.

I always wondered why I preferred to be alone or on a rooftop somewhere instead of at a party, or a football game, or even a movie. Once I discovered exactly what was wrong with me, my powers and heightened senses, I guess I sort of knew, but it wasn’t until I really let myself explore and experiment with my abilities that I got it. When I was alone, I felt connected. Connected to the world around me, myself, my mom, the universe as a whole. It sounded strange, but that was my life. My mom was an alien, for God’s sake. I was strange. I was like nothing on this planet. The best way I found that I connected with everything was to do yoga. I always thought it was super lame, but I was super flexible from dance and gymnastics that it was easy. It was relaxing and it opened my up to the world. The world was alive, and it was alive in me. Something sparked inside me sometimes, telling me something about the energies in the world, but it never explicitly told me what was going on. Same with Mom. Why can’t she ever just say something to me? 

“Delilah,” Jarvis said, interrupting my mid-mesosphere yoga session. I opened my eyes, feeling a shift in energy. “Your father had a bit of an accident.”

“Accident?” I asked, crossing my legs. “Jesus. What happened?”

“Playing security camera footage,” the AI butler replied. A video popped up on my interface. Dad, in the Iron Man suit, was fighting… one of the other suits.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered, dropping a little in altitude. “Jarvis, what…?”

“Colonel Rhodes,” he replied. “Unfortunately, he took the suit.”

“The military has the damn Mark Two?” I cried. Jarvis didn’t answer. The video continued. For a minute, Dad and Rhodey fought. I couldn’t believe it. Dad let him take the suit? Why would he…? I sighed and did a flip in frustration. He thinks he’s dying… He wants the military off his back, he trusts Rhodey, he thinks this will buy him time?

“Jesus,” I said, swiping the video away. “Jarvis, lock in on Dad’s coordinates.”

“He has currently blocked me from doing so.”

I laughed in disbelief. “Okay, then…” I closed my eyes and laid down on my back in midair, focusing. “We’re doing this the old-fashioned way.” I breathed in deep and began to call upon the powers and energies of the universe. Because, apparently, that was just something I could do. 

By the time I had located Dad, I realized someone else got to him first. SHIELD. I landed a safe ways away and stuffed my mask away, then ran right up to a couple men in the parking lot of a donut shop. 

“Hey,” one said, blocking my way. “You’re not authorized to—” 

“Dude, she’s not wearing shoes,” the other interrupted. I rolled my eyes. 

“Your mom isn’t authorized to blah, blah, blah!” I swept-kicked the first one off his feet, caught his fun mid-air, and slammed it into the second one’s gut. “I need to speak with my dad.” As they groaned on the ground, I walked into the donut place. Dad sat in a both facing me, Iron Man suit on, mask off. Facing him was a bald black man with an eyepatch. He was yelling at Dad, something about the southwest. Next to him was a familiar head of red hair in a skin-tight bodysuit. I approached the booth and Dad rolled his eyes. The man and woman turned around, staring at me, shocked. 

My jaw dropped as the woman turned around. It was Natalie Rushman, Dad’s assistant. Except, she looked very… not assistant-y. “You—” She stood up and regarded me with contempt. She was sizing me up. I huffed. 

“You’re a SHIELD agent…” She looked at the bald man, who nodded, and then she took off out the doors.

“Who the hell are you people?” I asked, walking up to the booth.

“Please,” the man said, “Sit down, Delilah.” I sat next to Dad and leaned forward. 

“How do you know my name?”

“You’re Iron Man’s daughter,” he replied.

“I’m still on your radar, huh?” I asked, leaning back. I eyed him up and down.

“Director Fury,” he said.

“Director. Impressive.” I nodded and raised my eyebrows.

Fury looked up and nodded to the woman who was apparently behind us. I frowned—I didn’t hear her come up behind us at all, but she wasn’t a threat, right?

“Hit him,” Fury said. She stung fast, like a wasp, and Dad jumped and cried out from the shot she injected into his neck. I stood up, whirled around, and grabbed her arm. She was fast, though, and twisted out of my grip then punched me square in the jaw. I gasped and pulled my leg up to kick, but she simply sat back down and gave me a bored look. I glared at her.   
“Who the hell—?”

“Oh, God, are you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?” Dad moaned. I leaned over and looked at his neck, at the injection sight. 

“Dad…” I muttered, watching the lines from his infection crawling down. His skin returned to its normal color. 

“What did she just do to me?” Dad asked, paranoid. Fury was also examining the effect of the needle. 

“What did we just do for you? That’s lithium dioxide. It’s gonna take the edge off. We’re trying to get you back to work.”

“Give me a couple boxes of that, I’ll be right as rain,” Dad replied. 

“It’s not a cure,” Natalie, if that even was her real name, said. “It just abates the symptoms.”

“Doesn’t look like it’s going to be an easy fix,” Fury added. He was staring carefully at Dad’s neck. I, for one, was getting creeped out. Why do these people know so much about Dad’s condition? 

“Trust me, I know. I’m good at this stuff,” Dad muttered. I nodded in agreement. “I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium.”

“We’ve tried every combination, every permutation of every known element,” I added. 

“Well, I’m here to tell you, you haven’t tried them all,” Fury replied. Dad and I shared a look, then our eyes shifted back to Director Fury.


	6. Best. Dad. Ever.

I sat in the basically ruins of the Malibu mansion, next to Dad and Fury. A couple SHIELD agents stood where the windows used to be. They were surveying and keeping guard, as if we were in immediate danger. Though, I supposed, if you were the director of SHIELD, you would have bodyguards following you… in case someone else was following you as well.

“That thing in your chest is based on unfinished technology,” Fury said, pointing to the arc reactor.

“No, it was finished,” Dad replied. He shrugged. “It has never been particularly effective, until I miniaturized it and put it in my—” 

“No.” I looked at Fury, who had so confidently just stopped Dad from talking about something he obviously knew more about. This man was a mystery, a little creepy, but very effective.

Fury continued. “Howard said the arc reactor was the stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race. He was on to something big, something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery!” Dad poured a drink. 

“Howard Stark?” I muttered in disbelief. How did Fury know anything about my grandfather? And why wasn’t Dad so stunned by this? I looked down. Dad knows something I don’t know, too.

“Just him? Or was Anton Vanko in on this, too?”

“Anton Vanko is the other side of that coin!” Fury replied, adjusting himself in his seat. I looked out over the cool Malibu coast, the mountains in the distance, and the palm trees at our doorsteps. This whole situation just kept getting weirder and weirder. Fury knew so much we didn’t, and he was refusing to tell us. I sighed and turned my attention back to the director.

“Anton saw it as a way to get rich. When your father found out, he had him deported. When the Russians found out he couldn’t deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia and he spent the next twenty years in a vodka-fueled rage. Not quite the environment you want to raise a kid in, the son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco.”

“You told me I haven’t tried everything. What do you mean I haven’t tried everything? What haven’t I tried?” Dad sipped his crystal water. 

“He said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started.” Fury glanced at me. “And I think… you have a little extra help, too.”

“He said that?” Dad asked.

“Mhmm. Are you that guy? Huh? Are you?” Fury leaned forward. “Because if you, then you can solve the riddle of your heart.” I furrowed my eyebrows. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but he wasn’t my biggest fan,” Dad muttered. Fury’s eyes sharpened. His energy stiffened and I looked at him carefully. 

“What do you remember about your dad, huh?”

“He was cold, he was calculating,” Dad replied, frustrated. “He never told me he loved me. he never even told me he liked me, so it’s a little tough for me to digest when you’re telling me he said the whole future was riding on me and he’s passing it down. I don’t get that! You’re talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school!” I stared at my dad. I always thought of him and my grandfather as completely different. Howard was calculating. He did everything right, he followed the rules, he always had a plan, he was never sporadic, he never even did anything for fun. Dad was the complete opposite. He was crazy and made irrational and horrible decisions. But deep down, they were the same. They both had a kid, sure, but what did they really think of that kid?

“That’s not true,” Fury said.

“Well, then clearly you knew my dad better than I did,” Dad snapped. I was still just staring at him, wondering where his self-awareness was. Fury set his water down. 

“As a matter of fact…” We all turned to watch a couple more agents bring in a big case. “He was one of the founding members of SHIELD.”

“What?” Dad and I both exclaimed. I stood up as he leaned forward and we stared at Fury in disbelief. I knew he knew more than he was saying! Fury looked at his watch and sighed. 

“I got a two o’clock.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Dad stood up with Fury. He pointed to the case. “What’s this?”

“Okay, you’re good, right?” Fury asked, glancing at me, then Dad.

“No, I’m not good!”

“Are you serious?”

“You got this right? Right?”

“Got what? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to get!”

“Yeah!” Fury turned around and walked toward another agent who just walked in, this one I knew. “Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact.” She smiled and another agent walked in. this one, I recognized as well. 

“You remember Agent Coulson, right?” Fury asked, shrugging his trench coat on. He started to walk away from us.

“Yeah,” Dad mumbled.

“Yep,” I replied with a sigh.

“Oh, and guys,” Fury said, turning to us, “I got my eye on you.” I swear to God he laughed at his stupid joke. I turned to Dad, who huffed, and looked around. Natasha walked up to us. 

“We’ve disabled all communications. No contact with the outside world.”

My jaw dropped. 

“Good luck!” She walked away. Dad turned around and threw his arms up in disbelief. 

“What the hell?” I cried at Coulson. Why am I even involved with this? I didn’t have that fucking party!

“Please,” Dad said, shaking his head. He took a step toward the agent. “First thing, I need a little bodywork. I’ll put in a little time at the lab. If we could send one of your goon squad down to The Coffee Bean, Cross Creek, for a Starbucks run, or something like that, that’d be nice.”

“I’m not here for that,” Coulson responded coolly. “I’ve been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave, or play any games, I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet. Okay?” I tilted my head and laughed a little. 

“Right, but this is just a him thing, right? I’m good to…” I pointed to the door and took a couple steps back. Coulson only pulled his taser out. I stopped. Didn’t think that would work, anyway.

“I think we got it, yeah,” Dad said, grabbing my arm. 

“Enjoy your evening’s entertainment,” Coulson said. He nodded and smiled, then walked out, leaving Dad and me to stare at the case. I finally got a good look at it. I froze. The top of the case had PROPERY OF H. STARK imprinted on it. I clicked my tongue and glanced at Dad, not forgetting about what he said about his father. What he said about himself, pretty much. He sighed and nodded, having resolved himself to whatever dumbass decision he made. 

“Help me take this downstairs?” he said, grabbing a handle. I set my water cup down and gave him a look. 

“What?” he asked, straightening up. “Is it something I said?” I scoffed and made a swiping motion with my hand, sending the case through the room and down the stairs to his workshop.

“Uh, Del…” I winced as I heard a crashing noise. I dropped my hand. 

“Nevermind,” he said, walking past me. I sighed and followed him, but he stopped at the top of the stairs. I floated back so I didn’t hit him. He sighed and turned around. “Del… I think I’m going to figure this out on my own. My father said I was the key. I need to do this alone.” I couldn’t even respond. I was shocked. I stood there with my mouth wide open. He patted my arm and hurried down the stairs. I stared at him as he walked down to his workshop. I stood at the top of the stairs, fighting the lump in my throat and the tears coming forward. Part of me almost immediately jumped out the open wall, but then the other part of me remembered that SHIELD would not hesitate to shoot me down. And then there would be another kind of press conference going on… I sighed and did the only thing I thought there was to do. I sat my ass down on the top step, ready to confront Dad when he came back up.

And I meant all of it. Not showing up to my recitals, games, competitions; being a complete hypocrite; and treating me just like how his father treated him. As it all built up in me, I began to cry on the top of the stairs, my head on my knees.


	7. They Don't Know That We Know That They Know

I woke up on a couch in the workshop. I guess I fell asleep on the stairs, Dad must have found me, and brought me down here. The sun was shining, I could tell. I could feel the moon beneath me. Holy shit, you’re insane, I thought to myself. I stood up and walked around the couch, looking for Dad. He wasn’t anywhere down in the lab, so I headed upstairs and looked around. “Dad!” I called. “Dad? Where the hell are you?”

No SHIELD agent was in sight. I did, however, hear (or rather feel) a car entering the garage downstairs. 

“Oh, he didn’t,” I muttered to myself as I raced down the stairs. Dad was parking the white sports car and I crossed my arms, walking inside the workshop. I stared at what he brought with him. “What the hell is that?” I pointed to the giant scaled city inside the car. Dad jumped and turned around, smiling at me. 

“Help me set it up!”

“What?” I asked, approaching him. “Where did you get that?”

“My old office.” He practically grinned and grabbed me by the shoulders. 

“Are you okay…?”

“Help me get it out of the car!” He jogged back and started pulling a piece out. 

“Oh, now you want me to help you?” I cried. I rolled my eyes as he struggled. I swiped my hand, pulling the rectangle out of the car and through the lab onto a large workspace table. He huffed and wiped his hands on his pants. 

“There, yes. Thank you. I can get this one.”

“No, you can’t,” I replied as I pulled all of them out of the car, walked them over to the other piece, and arranged them to fit together. Dad walked over to me to see what I had done. I stared at it and tilted my head. “This is the original Stark Expo.”

“Yes,” Dad mumbled. He leaned down and blew dust off it. “Jarvis, could you kindly Vac-U-Form a digital wire frame? I need a manipulatable projection.” Jarvis began scanning the Expo model. I glanced at Dad. He turned and gave me a look. 

“I’m guessing you just want me to leave now?” I asked.

He looked down. “No, uhh, no, I’m sorry, okay? I need you to help me finish this. Whatever the hell it is… I think I realized I need you. I was my father’s legacy, the thing he was most proud of… somehow… but you are my legacy, and if Dad knew that, well… He would have made sure you were for this, too.”

“Oh, really? All of that shit—” Dad opened his mouth to respond, but Jarvis was quicker. I just sighed. Everything I wanted to say felt so insignificant all of a sudden. 

“1974 Stark Expo model scan complete, sir.” Dad lifted it and headed over to an empty area of the floor.

“How many buildings are there?” 

“Am I to include the Belgian waffle stands?”

“Ehh, that was rhetorical. Just show me,” Dad said, setting it down and spinning it. He walked around it, inspecting it. I followed him around and lifted it to be perpendicular to the floor. Dad spun around and walked over next to me. “What does that look like to you, Del?” I was already staring at it, afraid that my guess was right.

“An atom,” I whispered, walking closer to the hologram.

“In which case the nucleus would be,” he pointed to the center where the globe spun, “here.”

“Highlight the unisphere,” I told Jarvis. Dad expanded and tilted the globe, then slapped his hands down and stared at the hologram model before us. He was puzzled, I could tell, but whatever he was thinking was probably about to change the world. It always did. 

“Lose the footpaths,” Dad said quietly. “Get rid of them.” Jarvis swiped the lines of sidewalk away.

“What is it you’re trying to achieve, sir?” Jarvis asked.

“I was wondering the same thing, Jarvis,” I said. I looked at Dad and nodded. “But I think I know. You’re discovering—” 

“Rediscovering a new element,” Dad finished, holding his jaw in his hand. “Lose the landscaping, the shrubbery, the trees.” He began swiping at the model. 

“Parking lots,” I said, moving things around as well, “exits, entrances…” If we did what we were both thinking, what I was hoping we were both thinking, this could… well, what could it do? Could it really save Dad? A jolt of what felt like electricity hit me in the core all of a sudden. I gasped and bent over, holding my torso. 

“Del!” Dad cried, bending over me and holding my back. “What’s happening? Are you okay?” I nodded and stood up slowly. Just as soon as it came, it was gone. I only felt slightly electrified. 

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Yeah, sorry, where were we?” I looked up. 

“Hey, seriously—”

“Seriously, I’m fine!” I cried. Dad held his hands up and nodded. He turned back to the hologram. I took a couple deep breaths and sighed. Whatever that was, it hurt. Something was definitely happening…

“Miss Stark?” Jarvis said.

“What’s up, Jarvis?” I replied. He threw a holo-screen up at me and I stared at it. 

“There is significant CE conjuring up over New Mexico.”

“More?” I whispered. “Okay, thanks, bud, we’ll look at it later.” I swiped the screen away and looked back at Dad. “Come on, what’s up here?”

“Uh, structure the protons and the neutrons using the pavilions as a framework,” Dad instructed Jarvis. 

“So… exactly what is the point of all this?” I asked quickly. Dad paused and sighed. He tapped the arc reactor in his chest. 

“You think…?”

“You don’t?”

“Well, I hope… I hope.” He just nodded. He turned to the newly structured model, clapped his hands together, and then brought them out, throwing the projections in a circle around us. 

“Dead for almost twenty years and still taking me to school,” Dad muttered. I looked around at the new element and couldn’t help but laugh. As much as an asshole as his father apparently was, he was an absolute genius. Dad laughed, too, and collapsed the projections.

“The proposed element should serve as a viable replacement for palladium,” Jarvis said. Dad held the projection in his hand, in a small version. 

“Thanks, Dad,” he whispered.

“Unfortunately,” Jarvis said as I duplicated the hologram and held it in my own hands, inspecting it, “it is impossible to synthesize.”

“Uh-huh,” Dad mumbled, standing up and grabbing my shoulder. “Except it’s not. We have Delilah. Get ready for a major remodel, fellas!” I spun around as he headed out the door, talking to his robots.

“We’re back in hardware mode!”

“WE REINVENTED WHAT?” I screamed, following him. 

“Hand me that ratchet, would you?” Dad asked, his arm contorted under our huge line of giant piping that went through the entire lab. As he worked, I was sitting upside down on the ceiling, focusing my energy on creating new matter. Not exactly creating as much as manipulating and, hell, it would be cool if I could create new matter, but that was physically impossible. As far as I knew. I paused my mediation and made a swiping motion so that the ratchet flew into his hands. 

“Have I told you how cool it is that you can use the Force?” 

“Have I told you how annoying it is that you keep referring to my energy manipulation as the fucking Force?” I replied, closing my eyes again. I gasped and dropped down, then gave him a look. “Coulson incoming.” He rolled his eyes and continued working. Coulson walked in and let the door slam. 

“I heard you broke the perimeter,” the agent said. I sighed and leaned on the work bench.

“Uh-huh,” Dad replied, standing up straight. “That was, like, three years ago. Where you been?”

“I was doing some stuff,” Coulson said, walking to us.

“Stuff?” I asked, giving him a disapproving look. 

“Yeah, well, me too. And it worked.” Dad followed Coulson with his eyes as the agent started looking around and touching things. He started leveling a pipe. “Hey, I’m playing for the home team, Coulson! You and all your Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Now, are you gonna let us work or break my balls?” I frowned as Coulson pulled something out of a bin. It was a giant metal shield with a star in the middle of it. It looked familiar, like I had seen a picture of it before. 

“What’s this doing here?” Coulson asked. Dad slowly turned around, saw what was in Coulson’s hands, and then dropped the metal plate in his own hands. 

“That’s it. Bring that to me.”

“You know what this is?” Coulson asked, walking it over to Dad.

“Oh!” I cried, taking it from Coulson. I gave Dad a look. “I know what this is!”

“What is this?” Coulson asked.

“It’s exactly what we need…” I started, looking at it. I wondered where I had seen it before. Dad snatched it from me. 

“…To make this work! Great, kid. Lift the coil.” I inwardly groaned, knowing that if Coulson was gone, I could just lift it with my powers, but if Coulson saw that he would make my life a living hell. Unfortunately, without my abilities, I had the less-than-average strength of a seventeen-year-old. 

“Go, go, put your knees into it!” Dad cried as I lifted the section. 

“If you don’t—” Coulson grabbed the pipe, too, and helped. 

“There you go, and…” Dad slid the disc under the coil. “Drop it. Drop it!” We dropped it, me more gently than the man next to me. Dad turned around, grabbed the level, and measured our coil again. 

I nodded. “Perfectly level.”

“I’m busy,” Dad said, looking up at Coulson. “What do you want?”

“Nothing,” Coulson replied, shaking his head. “Goodbye. I’m being reassigned.” I gasped. Dad huffed. 

“Director Fury wants me in New Mexico.” Coulson gave Dad a hard look. My head whipped up to look at him. 

“Did you just say—” 

“Fantastic,” Dad said, shoving me. “Land of Enchantment.” I stared at Coulson as my heart began to beat wildly. New Mexico. Puente Antiguo. They felt something too—why did I keep ignoring New Mexico?

“So I’m told.”

“Secret stuff?”

“Something like that.” Dad huffed and looked down. “Good luck,” Coulson said, holding his hand out. Dad shook it. “You, too.”

“Thanks,” Coulson said, holding his hand out to me.

“See you later, Agent,” I said, trying to be casual as I shook his hand.

“We need you,” Coulson said, looking from me to Dad. 

“Yeah, more than you know,” Dad responded. 

“He means thanks.” I elbowed him.

“Not that much.”

I laughed as he headed out the lab door. Then I took a deep breath.

“Coulson!” I called after him. He turned around. I pointed to the disc we used to prop our machine up. “Captain America.” Coulson just smiled and nodded. “What’s in New Mexico?” Dad elbowed me sharply.

“We’ll see,” Coulson replied, walking out. We stood in silence for a moment, Dad watching me. I shook my head and held up a finger. After a few minutes, I nodded and grabbed the metal plate he dropped earlier. 

“He’s gone. Let’s get to work.”

“Finally,” Dad muttered. He smacked me on the back. “Goggles on. Don’t get too distracted.”

“I’m focused,” I replied. I transferred the goggles from the top of my head to over my eyes. “Let’s do this!” Again, I pushed New Mexico to the back of my mind. SHIELD could handle that, couldn’t they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else curious as to what's happening in New Mexico? JK, JK, I know you know. Don't worry, Delilah is definitely going to meet Loki soon.


	8. Success

I set the prism in the glass container and bent down, making sure it was in place and aligned with the target across the room. I glanced back and forth, and then finally, satisfied, I clicked it in place. I stood up and came face to face with Dad who was wearing his goggles that really just looked like sunglasses and therefore made my goggles look super nerdy. He held a giant wrench and nodded to me.

“All good to go?”

“Ready here,” I said, ducking under the coils and walking to the monitors. I checked our signs and readings, then looked back to him. I nodded. “All good over here, too.” He nodded and tossed me something small and metal. I threw an energy ball to catch it, then pulled it to me. I popped the bubble and held the small accelerator key in my hand. Walking over to the giant computer and generator on the ground, I took a deep breath. It was going to take a lot of energy out of me to help power this machine.

“You sure you got this?” Dad asked, looking down at me from across the room. 

“Hey, you’re the one who’s going to have to aim!” I said, shoving the key in the slot and turning it. I stood up and walked over to him as he pulled his shirt off from over his under tank. I rolled my eyes. “I’ll never understand why guys do that. Does it really help?”

“Initializing prismatic accelerator,” Jarvis said as the lights dimmed, and light and energy started flowing through our system. Well, at least that part worked. Dad laughed and pretty much just ignored my question, then threw his shirt on the floor and grabbed the steering device. 

“Whenever you’re ready.”

I attached the probes that were connected to the monitoring system to my arms, temple, and neck, and closed my eyes. I focused on the energy flowing in the room and throughout the whole house. I imagined it turning from a dull blue pulse into a fine clear stream of hot energy. I heard Dad turning the wheel. I heard Jarvis announce that we were approaching maximum power. I felt a tingling sensation in the back of my neck. It travelled all the way down my spine. Dad fidgeted with something, grabbed a tool, I think. With my mind and every fiber of my being I began to wrestle the blue energy stream, pushing and pulling it until it became a perfect line. When it did, when the curves and edges turned into nothing, just straightness, I swear I heard a click. That click caused me to double over. It was accompanied with a white-hot pain that felt like that same line of power was going straight through me, straight through my core. It also felt like electricity, like I felt earlier. I gasped and leaned into it, embracing it. 

I think Dad might have asked me something, or yelled at me, and maybe Jarvis said something, too, but I focused on that energy because I knew what would happen if I let it go. The entire thing would burst, sending a reaction who knows how far out, so I continued to push the energy toward the glowing the triangle, my target. The closer it got, the more unstable it felt. I heard and smelled fire, I knew that was bad, but it was going to have to wait. Dummy would take care of it, right? Finally, I gave one last shove and the line connected with the target. The new element began to glow, and it threw me off my feet, not because it sent a pain through me, but because everything just stopped when it was fully charged, when it fully accepted the energy. 

“Del!” Dad cried. 

I groaned and everything faded from bright white to black, very, very slowly.

I woke up on that stupid couch again. I frowned and looked around, seeing Dad fidgeting with the glowing arc reactor in his chest. He glanced over at me, then turned to look at Dummy. 

“Dummy, you!” he cried, walking to me. I sat up and looked up at him. My head was pounding and my whole body ached. “Can you clean this mess up?” I laughed at the stupid robot. It began to move around the room, doing helpful, but not important tasks in the clean-up process. 

“You’re killing me, you know I don’t…” He sighed and sat down next to me as I pulled my legs under myself. “You did… awesome… I mean, kid, we really did it!” 

“Holy shit, yeah,” I muttered. “I can’t believe we did it—” 

“You did it,” he said, ruffling my hair. I rolled my eyes and pushed him gently away. 

“I just get so… exhausted… so easily. Especially when I have to keep it reigned in for so long. It gets so hard and—” I huffed, gripping my core. I coughed.

Dad leaned back and nodded. “We could do something about that.”

“Like what?” I asked as the phone rang. We both turned to look at the computers. 

“Incoming call with a blocked number, sir,” Jarvis said. 

“My phone privilege is reinstated. Lovely.” Dad got up and walked to the monitors. I frowned and stood to join him, but I faltered and landed back on the couch. I took a couple deep breaths and tried to steady myself. Dad answered the call and leaned over to the monitor. 

“Coulson! How’s the Land of Enchantment?”

I laughed and stood up slowly, walking over to him and the computers. I wanted to check out the new readings, especially on the energy I observed in New Mexico and what I just put out. I wondered how well it all lined up with my initial readings from months ago. 

“Hey, Tony, how you doing?” a rough voice said from the other end. The man laughed. Dad froze. I stood behind Dad and lost my breath momentarily. I knew that Russian accent. “I double cycle.”

He’s supposed to be dead!

“You what?” Dad asked. 

“You told me double cycle’s more power,” Ivan explained. “Good advice.”

He’s not dead! How did he survive a fucking explosion? Unless… A bad feeling was settling in my stomach. I needed to find out where he was. I went to the computers and began tracing his call. 

“You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy,” Dad said, giving me a look that said, ‘hurry up!’ I flipped him off and kept looking for his signal. He was good, or rather, whoever was harboring him was good. I couldn’t pinpoint what the feeling was telling me, other than that his death was a setup. Someone wanted him. Why?

“So do you!” Ivan said with that horrible laugh. Dad muted our side of the call. 

“Are you getting anywhere?”

“No, the signal’s all over the place!”

“Jarvis, speed this up.”

“Now,” Ivan continued, “the true history of Stark name will be written.”

“Where is he?” Dad cried.

“Accessing the Oracle grid,” Jarvis said.

“Eastern Seaboard,” I said, looking at Dad who was right behind me, looking over my shoulder. Ivan was still talking. 

“What your father did to my family over forty years ago, I will do to you in forty minutes.” Dad set his hand on my shoulder. I could feel his tension. But his voice remained calm as he unmuted his side of the call. 

“Sounds good,” he said. “Let’s get together and hash it out.” 

“Tri-State area,” Jarvis said, zooming in on the map. 

“Manhattan and outlying boroughs!” I hissed.

“I hope you’re ready,” Ivan said, hanging up.

“No!” I cried, losing the signal completely. JARIVS showed a big red panel. 

“Call trace incomplete.”

“Shit,” I muttered, shoving the keyboard into the base of the monitor. Dad walked away and sat down in his chair, looking at the monitors. Quickly, he reached for the new arc reactor, the one with the bright triangular element in the center, with the new fancy casing and metal shell. He pulled it out of its current display, stood, and shoved it into his chest. My jaw dropped as his robe opened and I saw the long creeping arms of the infection. 

“You want to run some tests, run them,” he said, panting. “And assemble the suit while you’re at it. Put it together now.” I whooped and whirled around to the monitors.

“We are unclear as to the effects—”

“I don’t want to hear it, Jarvis!” Dad yelled.

“Dad, Jarvis is right, but the odds are in our favor. Jarvis, stop being contrary,” I called as I began to look at his readings. I compared them to my own, seeing if the energy transfer I completed had any effect on his energy signatures. Something was different, there were new spikes that actually lined up with ones I’ve seen from my own vitals, but that wasn’t my priority. I just needed to make sure this thing not only kept him alive but kept him at peak health. And… I began inputting data from New Mexico. 

Dad coughed. “Oh, wow,” he muttered. “Oh, that tastes like coconut… and metal!” I laughed and turned around. 

“What the hell…” I froze, seeing the arc reactor burn brighter than ever. “Holy shit, Dad!” The light started to blind me. I covered my eyes and grinned. 

“We really did it! Oh, yeah!”

“Uh, Dad?” I said as the light began to fade with the suit being assembled. “You were thinking what I was thinking right?” I nodded to the monitor that proudly displayed Justin Hammer’s face as the next presentation at the expo. 

“Oh, that Vanko is working with Hammer?”

“Yep.” 

“And that all the people going to the Stark Expo tonight will be in jeopardy?”

“Oh, yes.”

“And that Vanko is probably going to double cross Hammer in some way?”

“Well, of course.”

“Alright,” he said. “I got a plan. You. Me. Stark Expo. Tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night is…” My eyes widened. “Hammer’s presentation. Shit.”


	9. The Glass Ceiling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They confront Hammer. Finally.

“Can I turn on the radio?” I grinned at Happy from the passenger seat. 

“No,” he grumbled.

“Can I change the temperature?”

“No.”

“Can I—?” 

“Oh, my God, no!” he cried, gripping the wheel. I slumped down in the seat. 

“How we looking?” Dad asked from the small comm in my ear.

“Just great,” I replied.

“You’re a little too old to be giving me so much attitude, Delilah,” Happy said. Pepper cleared her throat from the backseat. 

“Del, how come you wanted to come see Hammer’s presentation? I thought you weren’t exactly his biggest fan.” 

“Oh, he’s a douche and I fucking hate him, but I wanted to get out,” I replied. I gave “Natalie” a look. “Seeing as how SHIELD is going a little easier on us since Coulson left for New Mexico.”

“I wonder what for,” Natalie said, giving me a sweet innocent smile. I frowned as Happy pulled up to the curb. Me, too, sister. Me, too. We got out and headed up the stairs, but Happy stayed at the car. I ran back to him. 

“Hey, if I call you and tell you to do anything, I’m really going to need you to do it. Please, Happy?”

“You disrespect me. You disrespect my car. And then ask for a favor?” He grunted. 

“Well, this isn’t so much of a favor as you could possibly be saving lives, but…” I looked up at him and gave him my puppy-dog eyes look. It was a look I pretty much only used on him, mainly because under that tough exterior, he would do anything for me, no matter how annoying I was being. It was our special bond that probably came with him being more present than my actual father. He looked up and groaned. 

“Of course, Del, just stop with the face!”

“Thanks!” I cried, running after Pepper and the spy. We walked through the crowd to get to our seats. Some people saw us and moved out of the way, others stared, and a lot took pictures. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as we tried to make our way to the seating area. When we got to our chairs and sat down, I leaned over to Pepper. “Why the hell are you even watching Hammer’s presentation?”   
“It’s just… business. You wanted to come along, too, you know.” She sighed.

“Not like I had much of a choice,” I whispered. People were most likely in danger here. 

“Watch it,” Dad said in my ear. 

I watched silently as Hammer presented the drones he brought out. He even had a little dance walk-on that, honestly, made me cringe. It was like he was trying to copy Dad. And he was bad at it. Nothing really stood out to me as alarming or dangerous, until he introduced the last person I expected to come on that stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, today I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Battle Suit…” The Variable Threat Battle Suit… The VTBS? That sounds horrible! Hammer couldn’t make a good acronym if it bit him in the ass. “…And its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes!” My jaw dropped as Dad’s suit rose up from the floor from a trapdoor.

“What!” Pepper cried. The audience started cheering as Rhodey, the drones behind him, and Hammer saluted. 

“For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for…” Hammer trailed off.

“Okay, I know you think this is a good time to step in, but it most definitely is…” I said to Dad as Hammer continued his speech. We were both cut off, however, by an approaching rumbling. “…Not,” I finished helplessly as I turned around in my seat with the rest of the crowd. Dad was flying in in the new Mark III, and he landed right in front of Rhodey centerstage. If I thought the crowd was cheering loudly for Hammer, I was sorely mistaken. Dad stood up and the whole audience jumped to their feet and started screaming. 

“We got trouble,” Dad said to Rhodey. I heard Rhodey’s comm link in.

“Tony, there are civilians present,” Rhodey responded.

“Calm down, Rhodey,” I said. 

“Where the hell are you?”

“Who are you talking to?” Pepper grabbed my arm and gave me a wild look. I shrugged her off. 

“I’m here on orders,” Rhodey said as Dad approached him. “Let’s not do this right now.”

“Give them a wave!” Dad put his arm around Rhodey and waved to the crowd. Hammer jumped out of his shock and moved to the center of the stage. He clapped and laughed, like this was no big deal. 

“Hey, alright, yeah! Heh…”

“All these people are in trouble, we gotta get them out of here. You gotta trust me for the next five minutes,” Dad said.

“And me!” I dialed Happy’s number, sensing trouble coming. “Calling Happy right now, Dad…”

“Yeah, I tried that. I got tossed around your house, remember?”

“Can you chill, Rho—” 

“Delilah?” Happy answered his phone. I cut myself off and held the phone close. 

“Happy! You need to use security to get everyone away from here! I mean it! Right now!”

“Whoa, whoa, I can’t hear a word you’re saying!” Pepper grabbed me again. 

“What is going on?”

“Hold on! Happy, get everyone out of here!”

“Get everyone out of there?”

“Yes!”

“Okay…”

“Like, right now!”

“Okay!”

“Listen,” Dad said to Rhodey, “I think he’s working with Vanko.” I hung up with Happy, hoping he really was going to get security. 

“Rhodey, listen to him! Please!”

After a pause, Rhodey responded. “Vanko’s alive?” Hammer was cheering, playing along with the crowd. Dad turned and walked to him. “Where is he?”

“What?” Hammer asked.

“Where’s Vanko?”

“Who?”

“Tell me.”

Pepper looked at me. I just shook my head and turned my attention back to Dad, Rhodey, and Hammer. That feeling of dread, more than dread, really, was back. I knew something was coming, but no matter how hard I tried to focus, in this loud crowd I couldn’t pinpoint the source of my unease. And… the electricity. Still. Like there was crackling all around me and inside of me, too.

“What are you doing here, man?” Hammer asked.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rhodey cried, looking around. 

“Rhodey, what’s wrong?” Dad turned around and as he did, one of Rhodey’s guns positioned itself. 

“Oh, shit,” I whispered.

“Is that you?” Dad asked. 

“No, I’m not doing that!” Rhodey yelled. “That’s not me! I can’t move, I’m locked up- I’m locked up!” I turned around to see security guards filing down the rows. I gave Pepper a small shove. She looked around and shook her head with a huff. 

“Why can’t things go like they’re supposed to?” she whined. I gasped as the other suits, the drones, aimed their arm weapons into the crowd. “Shit!” People started screaming. Security moved faster. I looked up the raked audience and saw Happy pacing by the columns at the entrance to the arena.

“Get out of here! Go! This whole system’s been compromised!” Rhodey cried. I jumped to stand on my seat.   
“Everyone, leave! For your own safety, get out of here!” People around me started moving faster.

“Let’s take it outside!” Dad said, jumping up and shooting out of the top of the building.

I looked up and groaned. “Glass ceiling, you moron! You never pay attention…” I jumped down from my seat as the drones and Rhodey shot at Dad. “…To the fucking glass ceilings.”


	10. Line of Fire

I closed my eyes and moved my hands quickly, imagining the glass shards falling to the crowd below as dust. I opened my eyes slowly and looked around. People screamed, covered their heads, but then stood up and looking around, surprised.

“What the hell?” Natalie cried, looking up and around at the harmless dust. Pepper gave me a look. 

“Kid, I’m disconnecting you,” Dad said.

“What?” I cried as I tried to lead Pepper and Natalie away from the launching drones. “I can help!”

“Yes, you can, by getting them to safety.” I saw Happy moving towards us from the top of the arena. We locked eyes and I instantly knew what Dad did. 

“Oh, come on, you used me for cleanup?”

“Bye, kid, thank you!” Dad said. My line disconnected and I rolled my eyes as Happy made it to us. He grabbed me and Pepper and put his arms around us in that classic bodyguard way I was way too used to being under. 

“You had me scared for a second there, Del!” he cried.

“I know, I know,” I said as we ran away. “Wait!”

“What?”

“I have to make sure everyone is okay—” 

“No, you don’t, you have to get out of here!” I pulled away from Happy and looked back. I gasped. 

“Those drones are in the crowd, now!” I saw Hammer running backstage. “And I think I know what to do.” Pepper followed my eyes and nodded.

“I’m going with her.” We ran through the crowd and dipped into the computer area of backstage. Hammer was talking to a technician.

“He’s locked us out of the mainframe,” the technician said. Pepper huffed and Natalie had to almost run to keep up with her.

“Who’s locked you out of the mainframe?” Pepper cried.

“Please, please, go away!” Hammer ordered, stepping in front of his setup. I leaned over and frowned, looking at it. I pushed past Pepper. 

“Where the hell is he?” I demanded.

“Who?” He shook his head and held his hands out. “I’ve got this handled!”

“Have you now?” Pepper cried with such authority that I paused and stared at her. CEO suited her, that was for sure. Even Hammer was uneasy under her angry gaze.

“Yes, I do!” Hammer replied, conjuring up some bravery against her. He shook his head. “In fact, if your guy hadn’t showed up, this wouldn’t be happening!”

“No, you’re right!” I hissed, taking a step toward him. “He would have had those things programmed to fire on the innocent crowd so my dad would have no option but to come here and deter them from the people that did nothing!” Hammer’s face dropped. “I’m right, aren’t I?” I gasped. “He is controlling them and there’s nothing you can do to get past his fucking software! Because you’re a fucking moron!”

“Control the short little Stark! Just go away! Thank you.” He turned back to the computers and whispered to his computer guy. “Listen, we gotta get these bitches out of here!” I gasped and rage filled inside of me. I felt my hands spark. 

“Oh, you did not just—” Natalie stormed over to Hammer and grabbed him, bent his arm back, and slammed him against the table, hard. 

“Now, you tell me who’s behind this! Who is behind this?” I rolled my eyes. 

“You could have asked me that, Nat. Ivan Vanko!”

“Oh,” she said, giving me a nod. She shoved her arm into Hammer’s back. “Where is he?” Hammer just groaned and winced.

“There it is,” I muttered.

She pressed him down harder and Pepper cried out, covering her mouth. 

“Where is he?” Natalie screamed. 

“He’s at my facility!” She let him go and sprinted away, probably to change into her SHIELD outfit and then use the entire power of that insane organization to break into Hammer’s facility. Pepper pulled her phone out her purse and dialed 911. Hammer groaned and stood up, trying to straighten himself up. 

“I need NYPD, please,” she said.

“No, no, no,” Hammer muttered, walking to her.

“Command central,” Pepper continued.

“No, no, honey, don’t call the authorities!”

“Okay. Right away—right away!” She looked up at Hammer and gave him that death glare that I wanted to perfect and use. “Step aside. Step aside!” I slid between her and Hammer and crossed my arms. 

“I wouldn’t fucking go anywhere if I were you, Justin.”

“Who—who raised you? Your father sure didn’t, but you seem to have picked that up from him. You have such bad language—” 

“You know what?” I hissed. “He’s ten times the man you’ll ever be. and I cannot wait to watch you rot behind prison bars, you self-righteous son of a—” 

“Hey!” Happy called, walking around to us. “The hell is going on? Natalie just stole my car!”

“Happy, make sure this dick doesn’t go anywhere,” I said as he approached us. I frowned. “She stole your… Of course, she did. You ever see Men in Black?”

“What?” Happy cried. 

“Men in Black. The movie.”

“Yes, but why—?”

“You know how they erase people’s memories with that little device?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“Well,” I said, giving him a very serious look and putting a hand on his shoulder. “You might want to prepare yourself.”

“You’re insane.”

“Happy, Hammer, please?” I asked. Happy looked Hammer up and down and gave him a look. 

I closed my eyes, focusing on energies outside. People were afraid, running from something. I looked up at Happy, my chest heaving.

“Hey, it’s okay. They’ll be okay.”

“I could help.”

“Somehow, I think we’d be right back in this situation.”

“What?” Hammer asked, looking at us both. “What does that mean?”

“None of your business, coward,” I spat at him. 

“Del, how we looking down there?” Dad asked, turning my line back on. I gasped and turned away from the others. 

“What’s going on up there?” I cried as I heard lots of noises from his end.

“I’m holding up,” he said, grunting from some kind of effort. “But the people, are they safe?”

“Yeah, actually,” I said, turning to look at Hammer and Happy. “Yeah, I think everyone’s going to be fine, security is moving them along. The drones down here don’t help, though! Can you lead them away from us?”

“I’m on it,” he said. “Going out again.”

“Okay, that’s unnecessary—” I heard my side click off. “Ugh!” Another set of drones launched. 

“Each set of drones is communicating in its own unique language,” the technician said, typing furiously on his multiple computers.

“Well, choose one and focus on that!”

“Jesus, how do you people get anything done without a woman around?” I asked.

“Is now the time for that, Del?” Happy asked.

“Have you tried Russian? Why don’t you try Russian?” Hammer suggested bitterly. I threw my hands up. 

“And it’s the time for that? You wanna be helpful, Justin?” 

“Would you stop calling me that?” Hammer shouted, clenching his fists. Happy put his hands on his hips. 

“Hey. Watch it, guy.” I smirked at Justin and turned to the monitors. 

“Oh, for the love of—” I cried, moving the technician out of the way and getting to work on the computer. A SYSTEM ACCESS alert went across the screen and we got footage of Natalie, in all her skintight agent glory, and Dad in the suit.

“Reboot complete,” Natalie said. “You got your best friend back.”

“Thank you very much, Agent Romanoff,” Dad replied. Pepper was panting from nerves. 

“What?” she whispered. 

“Well done with the new chest piece,” Natalie said. “I am reading significantly higher output and your vitals all look promising.”

“Uh,” I said. “That was partially me! I helped with that!” Natalie smirked.

“Yes,” Dad replied. “For the moment, I’m not dying. Thank you.”

“What do you mean you’re not dying?” Pepper said. “Did you just say you’re dying?”

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. I forgot we never told Pepper, well, anything. 

“Is that you? No, I’m not. Not anymore.”

“What’s going on?” Pepper cried. 

“I was going to tell you, but I didn’t want to alarm you.” Pepper turned to me. 

“You knew about this?” I nodded and slowly backed away from her. “You were ‘gonna tell’ me? You were really dying?” she asked hysterically, looking back at the computer. 

“You didn’t let me,” Dad said. I sighed. He always knew exactly what not to say.

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“I was gonna make you an omelette and tell you!”

“Hey, hey!” Natalie called to them. “Save it for the honeymoon. You got incoming, Tony. Looks like the fight’s coming to you.”

“Great,” Dad replied. “Pepper?”

“Are you okay now?”

“I am fine. Don’t be mad. I will formally apologize—” 

“I am mad!” Pepper shouted.

“—When I’m not fending off a Hammeroid attack.”

“Fine!”

With a sing-songy voice, Dad added, “We could have been in Venice…”

“Oh, please,” she replied, closing the window.

“Del?” Dad said over the comm.

“What?” I snapped.

“We…” He sighed. “You know I hate putting you in the line of fire, but, well…”

“Say it,” I said.

“What?”

“Say it!” I cried.

“We need you! Jesus, you are impossible.” I grinned and headed for the exit. 

“I’m on my way, boss.”

“Hey, where the hell are you going?” Happy asked. I turned around and shrugged. 

“Dad needs me!”

“Seriously?” Happy cried, giving Pepper a look. 

She only responded with a look that said, “Like I can get her to do anything?” Hammer pointed at me as I turned and sprinted away. 

“She’s—what the hell is she going to do, huh? You people are crazy. You’re crazy!”

I ran outside, looked around and made sure no one could see, then I phased into my suit and mask and popped some joints. “Jarvis?” I said.

The interface appeared. “Hello, Delilah. Where to?”


	11. Fight in the Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Delilah gets a little help. Guess who that would be from?

“Track Dad’s suit. We’re going there. He showed me a map of where Dad and Rhodey were, and I took off into the sky. I saw them standing around talking when I landed in the park and ran up to them. They had their masks off and were having a pretty civil conversation for the current circumstances.

“No, it’s your fault,” Rhodey said, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” Neither of them noticed me approaching. Dad nodded. 

‘Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear.” He paused. “Partner.” I rolled my eyes. 

“They’re coming in hot, any second. What’s the play?” 

They turned to me, then looked at each other. 

“Well,” Rhodey said, looking around, “We want to take the high ground, okay? So, let’s put the biggest gun up on that ridge.” He pointed up to a hill with a pathway. I nodded and they both took a step toward the ridge.

“Got you,” Dad said, then looked at Rhodey who also headed to the hill. He looked him up and down, curious as to why he could possibly be going in the same direction. “Where do you want to be?”

“Where are you going?” Rhodey asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“I meant me.”

“You have a big gun; you are not the big gun.”

“Tony, don’t be jealous.”

“No, it’s subtle with all the bells and whistles…”

“Yeah, it’s called being a badass.”

“Holy shit, you two! We don’t have this kind of time! Rhodey, go up top, we’ll draw them in.”

“Don’t stay down here,” Rhodey responded, looking around. “This is the worst place to be!”

“Okay, you got a spot. Where’s mine?”

“Fuck, Dad, just literally find somewhere to stand, and—” I groaned as electricity hit me again. “Whoa, baby! That hurt!”

“Okay, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing,” I cried, looking up at them. “Nothing, just… Jarvis, I want eyes on Puente Antiguo.” Jarvis pulled up a satellite map of the city and left it on the bottom left of my interface.

“Puente what?” Rhodey asked. I waved my hand at him.

“Side project. But you’re right, Rhodey, we need to get higher.” Rhodey nodded and turned to Dad.

“It’s the kill box, Tony, okay, this is where you go to die.”

“Uh, guys?” I said, nodding behind Rhodey. A drone landed. Another one quickly followed to my left. They just kept coming, and I had to come to terms with our insane outnumbered odds. And we were still standing in the stream, in the kill box. Rhodey flipped his mask down. Dad flipped his down, too. I ignited energy masses in my hands, and we backed up against each other as all hell broke loose. They fired missiles, I shot energy blasts, the robots shot back at us. I got worried about their fire power, so I threw a hand up and created a forcefield around us. Blasts started exploding around us. I gasped as one came at me point blank, and even though we had a forcefield, I clenched my eyes shut and threw my hand out. I exploded the giant rocket before it even got halfway between the drone and me. 

“Whoa, kid, is that new?” Dad cried. I laughed. 

“I—I guess so—” 

“Told you you have the—” 

“If you say the Force, I swear I will Force one of these missiles at your face!”

“Let the field down, Del, let’s spread out!” Rhodey yelled.

“Okay…” I dropped my hand and started fighting the drones. Dad used one of his new arm additions. Six tiny missiles flew from his armor to three incoming drones. They all exploded immediately, and he grinned. 

“See that?” 

“Yeah, yeah, nice,” Rhodey grumbled. I jumped on top of one of the drones and ripped its head off, then shot white-hot energy into the gaping hole I left. I jumped off the body just as it exploded and threw the head into another drone. We closed in around each other, taking on individual drones, but they kept coming in for us. Dad looked around at the drones surrounding us. 

“Rhodey? Del?” He braced himself. “Get down!” I crouched down and Rhodey dropped to his hands and knees. Dad swung around, shooting red laser beams out of his arms and cutting the remaining drones in half. He even cut a tree down. I sat down on the grass, panting. 

“Wow,” Rhodey said, standing. “I think you should lead with that next time.” I laughed at him.

“Yeah, sorry boss. I can only use it once. It’s a one-off.” Dad held his hand out to me and I took it, jumping up. I looked around at out handiwork.

“Heads up, you got one more drone incoming,” Natalie said over the comm. “This one looks different. The repulsor signature is significantly higher.”

“Oh, I think we know what that means,” I muttered as the drone dropped in from the sky. It was a huge suit, this one bigger than the others, and for an obvious reason. Someone was inside it. He opened the headspace and I saw his face finally. It was Ivan Vanko, back from the dead. He smirked at us. 

“Good to be back.”

“Oh, this ain’t gonna be good,” Rhodey said. I huffed and Ivan pulled his arms in, then threw them out with huge electric whips. 

“I got something special for this guy,” Rhodey said, nodding to Dad and me. He took a step forward. “I’m gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife.” 

“With the what?” Dad asked. A weapon popped out of Rhodey’s shoulder, whirred, got steam, and then flew at Vanko. It dinked his armor, fell in the stream, and fizzed out. I stared down at it. 

“Hammer tech?” Dad asked. Rhodey closed his suit. 

“Yeah.”

“I got this,” Dad said, shooting missiles out of his own shoulders. They hit Vanko, but all he did was close his mask and circle the whips around. He slashed them and aimed one right at us. Dad dodged to the right, Rhodey rolled to the left, and I jumped up to hover in the air. Rhodey used his big gun to fire at Vanko, but Vanko flicked his whip and it sliced the gun in half. Rhodey sighed, defeated.

“I’m sorry,” I said as Dad flew around Vanko. “Am I the only one weirded out that this guy uses whips? Like how archaic is that?”

“We can have a philosophical debate about his choice of weapon later, Del!” Dad cried. Vanko gripped him in a whip and threw him into a rock. 

“Oh, no, you don’t!” I cried as Rhodey and I began flying around Vanko and attacking him. Dad flew into him but got thrown away, Rhodey went for him, but got caught in a whip, and I threw a huge energy ball at him, but one of his whips lashed around my ankle and he pulled me down. I screamed and fell into a couple of rocks, then rolled over and dashed away as the whip came down again. Dad bellowed as he attacked Vanko from behind and got a good headshot in. He got a few good punches in, too, until Vanko punched him away and then got a whip around his neck.

“No!” I screamed. I landed by Rhodey, who was on the ground, and started shooting energy darts at the psycho Russian. Vanko stepped forward and grabbed me by the throat, stepped on Rhodey, and pulled Dad in by the neck. He raised me up and I kicked at him, but of course that did nothing. I did something I had never down before, something I never really even thought to do, and I used my foot to throw an energy block at him as I was grasping his metal suit arm with my hands. He got thrown back, so Rhodey jumped up, but then Vanko kicked me away and I hit a tree in the back. I groaned and sat up, trying to stand. I looked up to see both Dad and Rhodey in the wrap of the whips. I winced and took a step forward, then buckled under it. I glanced down at it and saw lots of blood and… was that bone? I grunted and looked up, then gasped. Dad and Rhodey shot a stream at each other.

Suddenly, I heard a crack. It came from me—I looked down at my hands and saw blue lightning crawling across my hands. I got an overwhelming urge, not unlike the need to sneeze, to throw my hands up. 

“Miss Stark, the energy over Puente Antiguo—” Jarvis said, but he cut out. I saw the enrgy levels spiking over the city in New Mexico. Thunder rumbled over our heads and lightning fell down from the sky, connected with me, then connected with the energy streams from Dad and Rhodey. The beams and lightning connected right on top of our adversary. I was thrown back by the collision and felt the energies from it reverberating for a while, along with a ringing in my ear. I fell down again and gripped a tree trunk. Dad ran over to me and nodded as he was panting. 

“WHAT WAS THAT?” he yelled. I shook my head and stumbled up. I followed him and Rhodey, who was limping, over to where Vanko lay on the ground, his suit damaged hopefully beyond use or repair. 

“You lose,” he said in a weak voice. His suit’s chest piece began to flash red and I looked around at the rest of the drones. They were all flashing red. My vision was getting blurry and my head felt heavy.

“All these drones are rigged to blow. We gotta get out of here, guys!” Rhodey looked around at all the drones.

“Pepper,” Dad said. He shot off, Rhodey followed, and I tried to jump up, but I fell right back down to the ground. I felt something land next to me, pick me up, and shoot us up into the sky. I looked down and watched the explosions around the boroughs, panting and trying not to think about my almost cut off foot. Or the actual lightning I just summoned. Dad landed us on a roof, and I saw him and Pepper look over me. I heard them say my name, but my eyes closed as Dad pulled out a small device and held it up to me. 

In the dark clouds of my dream, I searched for my mother. She was nowhere to be found. I turned around and screamed. I faced a muscular man with long blonde hair who had lightning coursing around him. He opened his eyes and I saw nothing but pure lightning in them. I woke up with a gasp in my New York bedroom. I sat up and looked around. I was in a t-shirt and lounge pants and my mask was on my nightstand. It was quiet. 

“Jarvis?”

“Miss Stark.”

“Where is everyone?”

“They left you home while they finished up with the police department. I can call them—”

“No,” I said, stretching. “No… That’s okay. How long would it take me to fly to New Mexico?” Jarvis was silent. “Jarvis?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that was a real question.” I laughed and stood up. 

“It was very real.”

“In your state maybe a couple of hours.”

“In my state,” I scoffed. 

“You are weak from your encounter with Vanko—”

“I got electrocuted, I know! But, I want to know what all this lightning is about.” I looked out my window and nodded. “We’re flying to New Mexico.” I grabbed my mask and phased out of the house.

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts walked into the house Tony owned in New York. Pepper walked; Tony limped. He patted her shoulder and headed upstairs.

“I’m just gonna check on Del,” he muttered. She nodded and went into the living room, where she collapsed on the couch from exhaustion. Tony climbed the stairs and gently knocked on his daughter’s bedroom door. No answer. She was still sleeping. He slowly opened the door, but she wasn’t in bed. He walked in. “Del?” He checked the bathroom. No one. He checked the walk-in closet. She wasn’t in there either. He huffed. “Jarvis, where the hell is Delilah? Is she downstairs?”

“Delilah left for New Mexico,” Jarvis replied. Tony froze.

“DELILAH DID WHAT!” 

Pepper jumped awake from the couch and got up as Tony ran down the stairs. He looked crazy. 

“Tony, what—”

“Delilah flew to New Mexico.”

“What do you mean she flew to New Mexico?”

“Jarvis, call my daughter! NOW!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next is the first Thor movie which I should probably start on. Except, you know, school is a thing, so just be patient. Thank you for reading! Honestly, if anyone reads this I will be shocked. Peace out for now.


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